Root: The IRS Will Let Me Die!

Wayne Allyn Root is a former vice presidential candidate for the Libertarian Party and a first class wingnut. Like Joseph Farah, he’s flipping out about Rachel Maddow criticizing him and spreading bizarre conspiracy theories — like the IRS is going to kill him with Obamacare.

Root: The same IRS that tried to hound, harass, intimidate and destroy the opponents of Barack Obama or anybody with a ‘Tea Party’ in their name, those same prejudicial people are now going to be in charge of our healthcare. My gosh, this is a nightmare. If I get cancer, you can bet they’re going to let me die.

Host: No, the death panel will not look favorably on Wayne Allen Root.

Root: No, not at all.

That’s a lot of lies in just a few sentences. First, the claim that the IRS only targeted Tea Party groups has been thoroughly debunked by now. Second, the IRS is not “in charge of our healthcare” or anything even remotely resembling it. The enforcement mechanism for the individual mandate uses the IRS. That’s it. The IRS isn’t running anything. And there isn’t even a minimally plausible mechanism by which the IRS or any other government agency could “let him die” if he gets cancer. Seriously, does he think his doctors are going to refuse to treat him if he gets cancer? He’s either deluded or he’s lying. I don’t much care which.

Oh, and he’s being attacked by Maddow because he’s just so gosh darn important and dangerous:

Root: Now, you may not know this. Did you know that last Thursday, Rachel Maddow went on a fifteen-minute diatribe on her national TV show on MSNBC, and do you know what the fifteen-minute diatribe was aimed at?

Host: You should tell us about it, because I didn’t hear it.

Root: Wayne Allyn Root. The entire fifteen minutes on national TV. You and I both know how valuable time is on national radio or TV, we’re in the media. Can you imagine taking fifteen minutes of a one-hour national TV show to rant with a picture of Wayne Root on the screen, to rant about Wayne Root? Don’t you think maybe, just maybe, these people — Piers Morgan had me on and tried to destroy me a month ago, she ranted behind my back without me being on the show for fifteen minutes, Mother Jones magazine did a hit piece on me two months ago, the Daily Show with Jon Stewart did a hit piece on me.

Is anybody thinking what I’m thinking? I mean, the way life works is if they really think you’re an idiot, they ignore you. If they start to give you gigantic press time to discredit you and besmirch your name and destroy you, it’s because you’re too effective, you’re too powerful, and you’re too close to the truth. I’m hitting them where it hurts and they know that I’ve got the answers and that I figured this whole thing out.

It’s an IRS intimidation thing to bankrupt all the conservative donors and to scare us into no longer talking in the media and to no longer writing checks and to no longer criticizing Obama. This is all about intimidation.

After spending several years touring the country as a stand up comedian, Ed Brayton tired of explaining his jokes to small groups of dazed illiterates and turned to writing as the most common outlet for the voices in his head. He has appeared on the Rachel Maddow Show and the Thom Hartmann Show, and is almost certain that he is the only person ever to make fun of Chuck Norris on C-SPAN.

http://en.uncyclopedia.co/wiki/User:Modusoperandi Modusoperandi

“And there isn’t even a minimally plausible mechanism by which the IRS or any other government agency could ‘let him die’ if he gets cancer. Seriously, does he think his doctors are going to refuse to treat him if he gets cancer?”

Sure, you say that now, but when your doctor gets audited in the middle of your operation…

exdrone

“He’s crashing! Start an IV of Ringer’s lactate, and get me a 1040-A form stat!”

AsqJames

I can’t take seriously anybody who speaks of their self in the third person.

raven

Root: The IRS Will Let Me Die!

This is stupid.

Won’t the magic power of the Free Market save him?

Root isn’t a real Gibbertarian. No True Gibbertarian would say something like this.

John Pieret

I mean, the way life works is if they really think you’re an idiot, they ignore you.

But when high ranking politicians (surprise, surprise, Republicans) spend their time cosying up to idiots, you point that out because those high ranking politicians are important. The mention of the idiots is just incidental to showing that the Republican party is the captive of kooks.

kantalope

“You and I both know how valuable time is on national radio or TV, we’re in the media. ”

My only direct exposure to Root was when he co-hosted Spike TV’s King of Vegas some years back.

So, does Root believe that if he gets cancer they’ll prevent him from leaving the US? You’d think if the “death panel” doesn’t want to treat him he’d go find a private clinic someplace outside the US for treatment.

blf

How do we convince the death panels to ask the IRS to pay for Root’s badly-needed brain transplant?

caseloweraz

Root is right that the IRS controls our health care. Did you never hear of the Illness Remediation Society?

I’m quite sure Rachel Maddow would *love* to have him on her show. Most of them won’t get anywhere near her. Go on, Root, pick up the phone and give Rachel a call–offer to come on her show! Then she won’t have to rant behind your back, she’ll display your idiocy in the way it truly deserves!

http://motherwell.livejournal.com/ Raging Bee

Gee, I wonder why those brave freethinkers couldn’t find a better guy than this to put on their national ticket? Didn’t the Cato Institute have anyone smarter on hand? Oh wait, all the (relatively) smart ones are Republicans, because they know that’s all the “libertarians” were ever supposed to be — just another right-wing Republican front.

unemployedphilosopher

Of course the IRS will let him die. It’s not like they’re going to swoop in on their flying horses and cure his hypothetical cancer. Though, if they could do that, it would, I admit, be pretty cool.

Still, you’d be hard-pressed to find a saint who’d miracle this person back to health. Even if there were such things as miracles.

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About the Author

After spending several years touring the country as a stand up comedian, Ed Brayton tired of explaining his jokes to small groups of dazed illiterates and turned to writing as the most common outlet for the voices in his head. Read More...